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Is it time to stop using Google?
I've always been a devoted "Googler" from the very first time I used their search engine a few years ago. However, after reading this article I've decided to start exploring other optinos. I've found two decent engines: iXquick and perhaps this other one, Clusty. Google did refuse to hand over information to the government earlier this year but I don't like the idea of them storing that much of my personal data.
Greetings JerrySmith[MvP] they all still collect your personal info. Whether or not they "delete" your IP. within a specified timeframe.Quote:
Originally posted here by JerrySmith[MvP]
Is it time to stop using Google?
I've always been a devoted "Googler" from the very first time I used their search engine a few years ago. However, after reading this article I've decided to start exploring other optinos. I've found two decent engines: iXquick and perhaps this other one, Clusty. Google did refuse to hand over information to the government earlier this year but I don't like the idea of them storing that much of my personal data.
It is still up to them what they do with it.
From iXquick's privacy statement.
The use of the word "Limited" is nothing new. They still have your info. I don't see how they would be less likely than Google to divulge it.Quote:
Ixquick collects limited information each time you visit our site, so we can improve the overall quality of your online experience. We collect referral data, your IP address and browser and platform type, and register the date and time you visited the Ixquick.com site, your search terms, and the links upon which you choose to click. Like most standard Web site servers, we use log files to collect and store anonymous user information.
:cool:
Edit- BTW welcome to AO!!!
By saying you've found two decent search engines... what you mean is you've taken two from the article you linked to... and you probably haven't even tried them... unless you wrote the article and are spamming yourself... but I find that doubtful... Neither of those sites compare to google... I did a search for "Computer Defense"... on site had 13 million results, the other 33... google had 150 million.. Now you may say "no one looks at more than the first hundred"... I've looked into 2000+ for certain searches.. .to which you'll say "even so they all cover that many" To which I'd say they have "varing" degrees of decent results... and I don't think they compare to google's results... Although ixquick.com somewhat does because I'm pretty sure they actually search through google... For all we know they could be using the Google API key and running a search.Quote:
Originally posted here by JerrySmith[MvP]
Is it time to stop using Google?
I've always been a devoted "Googler" from the very first time I used their search engine a few years ago. However, after reading this article I've decided to start exploring other optinos. I've found two decent engines: iXquick and perhaps this other one, Clusty. Google did refuse to hand over information to the government earlier this year but I don't like the idea of them storing that much of my personal data.
As for privacy... it really doesn't exist on the internet... From your single post, in under 5 minutes, I found blog postings by you, your ebay account, your favourite radio station... had I looked deeper based on those results I'm sure I could have found a great deal more... You can do the same for me and then some..
Something you might enjoy reading is http://www.lifehacker.com/software/t...ail-187113.php
I don't see google as that big of a concern in my life...
Especially when I watch someone walk around with their bank card, credit card, health card, drivers license, SSN/SIN, Birth Certificate and Car insurance paperwork in their wallet... Or women who carry all of the above + bank book, checkbook, passport and phone-number/address book... (With their pin numbers written on the front-page)... oh yeah.. and pictures of the family...
With the number of purse snatchings and pick pocketings that occur daily... it's more likely that crucial personal information will be stolen that way..
If you want to sit and search for Child Porn, How to best assassinate the president, 101 illegal things to do for fun, how to dispose of a dead body or whatever else you have in mind... that's your business... but if the government goes after Google for that personal data... I say let them... Who cares that Google has the data.... the question of "Why were you making those searches" is a better question to answer... If you have a legit answer for that... it doesn't affect you in the end.. but if you don't.. you may be in trouble.. and rightfully so...
My searches are all legal... I'm seldom looking online for instructions to make a nuclear weapon... so I have nothing to worry about.
Peace,
HT
Greetings!
I always consider it as given that my searches using not just Google but even other search engines gets recorded and monitored somewhere in the WWW. I have no qualms about these since I access only sites that allow themselves to be accessed, download only those that are downloadable... and all. PLUS, I never do any online purchase.
Let them build my profile to their hearts' content... that profile is of no use, even for identity theft.
Cheers!
What do you think using another site which seraches in google for you and displays the results as google does with a rating on how well is the site in spreading viruses or good enough not to infect their visitor's PCs and afterall what category they belong to??? This is a very good site which does exactly that : www.scandoo.com .... exactly speaking my homepage. I usually search on DOS attcaks, breaking into systems, modifying drivers and all...and usually without opening scanddo....i.e. right on the goole website. But does that really matter??? If I take my case, I think there might be a lot of people maight be in millions who would be entering this quesries somewhere on google DAILY??? Who will go through those results?? Ok IP ranges right??? Does making a search prove that I have commited a crime??? [WELL I DO NOT DEAL WITH REAL WORLD CRIMES AND MOST SERACHES ARE JUST FOR THE OJNLINE ACTIVITIES]. But then I have a reason to do so. And does it really make a concern ?? and even when I say that a crime needs to be PROVED??? Its not that easy that that get feared out of these things. But people start thinking like that ...... well to some extent I think everyone is a criminal or why would one get feared up of getting caught???? LOL!!
ANyway I already know what google does with my data. I use my REAL world address in google accont and am sincerely logged into google everytime I search....so it would be easier for them to get at me. Bue does it really mean what you search is read by GOVERNMENT??? Who will read the millions of words fed into that searchbox every hour??? Filtering aint a solution because it will reduce it to a max to 1/10 of a milloin. Is tht data still interpretable by human brain in short time??? IP range will reduce it hundred times and we get some thousands of words and then you divide the TYPE of searches...and you reach to me. BUT did I really commit that crime??? And who thinks a criminal is so childish to reveal his IP on the crim scene???
Well that was about serching for online security ( or call it criminal from government's perspective) . Now if you really like google that much that you dont care to use a proxy anf still search for making nuclear bombs, I think you might land into trouble.
And I think its good that the companies do collect the data. Because sometimes it becomes important to know who afterall was trying to get the data about airport security for hijacking.
And do you think other sites dont collect data from you???? WEll...they do of couse...as Ht has pointed out from the privacy statement of that another site.
I dont think it is much of a concern untill you try to insert some string which is a probable try to get some hidden data from google...or that you go on typing the searches one after another...so that your FREQUNCY of searches reveals almost everyhing about you.
PEACE.
I use a variety of search engines...because they all seem to have a quality that is particular to one and not the others...
Google is the best when you don't really know what you're looking for but have a general idea...
MSN I find brings truer results if you DO know what you're looking for...
Icerocket is the best if you're looking for anything to do with Blogs...
Yahoo is generally better at finding solutions to problems if you have a specific question..so instead of ' google it ' it should really be ' yahoo it '
so...to limit yourself to one search engine is ridiculous in my opinion...because there still isn't a best search engine out there for everything...different search engines provide different results in different areas...
you should be using each one at their strengths..not for everything.
Eg ;)
maybe I have just read 1984 one too many times... but I figure, the less the government is prying into my privacy, the better... Sure, I am not searching for kiddie porn or weapons of mass destruction, but with the state of things [at least in the US] with all of the paranoia over the 'gal derned terrorists' who knows what kind of search could send up a red flag... I am really sick of the argument 'if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear' ... how long before that is not true? maybe I am just being paranoid... but... in the words of a great philosopher [ok so he was a heroin addict... much the same :)] "just because you're paranoid, don't mean their not after you" ...
Even when you're using an avatar? Or you're on someone else's computer on someone else's network? LOL.Quote:
...they all still collect your personal info.
Then why is the internet the fastest growing crime scene? Because you CAN get away. The criminal infrastructure on the internet is vast and growing. Here's just one example: click here . Privacy is a key element (among others) to internet crime, just as it is for other crimes.Quote:
As for privacy... it really doesn't exist on the internet...
There is no privacy if you're a sitting duck. Sometimes obscurity is security. ;)
I also use a variety of search sites. However, I've been using Tor a LOT more lately than I use to.
Here is a neat little doc for your entertainment.
http://www.freenet.org.nz/misc/google-privacy.html
Why not, exactly? Most mid-level to advanced physics books discuss how anyway ;)Quote:
Originally posted here by HTRegz
My searches are all legal... I'm seldom looking online for instructions to make a nuclear weapon... so I have nothing to worry about.
Peace,
HT
"By saying you've found two decent search engines... what you mean is you've taken two from the article you linked to... and you probably haven't even tried them."
Hey listen here buddy, I have tried them and they are the two I currenty use. What I said is what I mean, I'm not here to spam your precious site i was only trying to make conversation. And so what if I do want to find out how to make a nuclear weapon. I may just want to know for informational purposes. It's not any of anyone's business what I do or dont do online and I chose to use the same ID for almost all of those things you mentioned because I really dont care if you hack my email or read my blogs or listen to my favorite radio station. Get off your high horse guy.
" I figure, the less the government is prying into my privacy, the better"
We have a winner! I under stand some data will be kept for developing and advertising etc, but there needs to be a limit on how long you can keep that informaiton. I think that one dude is right, it is definately better to use a variety of search engines. Anyway, thanks for the welcoming Galdron & everyone else.
I would disagree (big surprise? :D) and say that's not the reason why the internet is the fastest growing crime scene... It's the fastest growing crime scene because of the scale of it... It's the first time that crime could easily occur on a global scale...Quote:
Originally posted here by brokencrow
Even when you're using an avatar? Or you're on someone else's computer on someone else's network? LOL.
Then why is the internet the fastest growing crime scene? Because you CAN get away. The criminal infrastructure on the internet is vast and growing. Here's just one example: click here . Privacy is a key element (among others) to internet crime, just as it is for other crimes.
There is no privacy if you're a sitting duck. Sometimes obscurity is security. ;)
Sure there's some privacy but there's no more privacy than you have in your day to day life... If the government knows what books you're checking out of the library, why wouldn't they know what you're searching for online... I don't necessarily agree that they should have access.. but very little privacy exists...
So you go to Random access points to get online and do all your work... I'm going to figure out the area those access points are in... based on IP, maybe SSIDs in the area (many people use their address --- If anyone wants my SSID I always use the address of the last place i lived... it ****s with peoples heads).. So I deploy a few access points.. eventually you'll stumble upon them and use them... There goes your privacy...
Another reason internet crime is going up is things like 411 scams... These people don't succeed because of privacy.. they succeed because they're in countries that operating outside most normal laws... the laws of the "civilized" world..
Now Phish mentioned tor... from time to time I play with it... It has problems in itself that prevent total privacy..
- Your Exit Point from the Tor Network can Sniff all your traffic... I'm willing to bet the government has a number of tor endpoints... it just makes sense.
- Java, JavaScript, Flash, Quicktime, Shockwave, ActiveX and VBScript can all still execute via web pages and return your private information. -- Flash is an interesting one as it's being used in more and more online voting sites.. it actually records individual machine characteristics making it extremely difficult to vote repeatedly... even changing your IP (private and public) isn't enough to always deter it.
Additional Information:
Peace,Quote:
Source: http://wiki.noreply.org/noreply/TheO...mainingAttacks
As mentioned above, it is possible for an observer who can view both you and either the destination website or your Tor exit node to correlate timings of your traffic as it enters the Tor network and also as it exits. Tor does not defend against such a threat model.
In a more limited sense, note that if a censor or law enforcement agency has the ability to obtain specific observation of parts of the network, it is possible for them to verify a suspicion that you talk regularly to your friend by observing traffic at both ends and correlating the timing of only that traffic. Again, this is only useful to verify that parties already suspected of communicating with one another are doing so. In most countries, the suspicion required to obtain a warrant already carries more weight than timing correlation would provide.
Furthermore, since Tor reuses circuits for multiple TCP connections, it is possible to [WWW] associate non anonymous and anonymous traffic at a given exit node, so be careful about what applications you run concurrently over Tor. Perhaps even run separate Tor clients for these applications.
HT
What the hell is an antipoint and why do i have -64?
Your AntiPoint Stats
Total AntiPoints That You've Received: -64
0% Positive 100% Negative
Total AntiPoints That You've Given Out: 0
50% Positive 50% Negative
- contact user about this assignment: AP Poster: HTRegz
Today 12:25 AM Well your a cocky son of a bitch.
So I can be banned for being cocky? WTF is this? LoL? Whatever.
Hmmmm,
Sort of.............................Quote:
It's the fastest growing crime scene because of the scale of it... It's the first time that crime could easily occur on a global scale...
If you look at the actual "crimes" they are not original. What has happened is an improvement in communication that has allowed them to extend their range.
If you look at history you will see the same is true of the railway, motor vehicle and aeroplane........ they allowed criminals to extend their range.
Similarly, newspapers, the telegraph and telephone allowed fraudsters to expand their horizons.
I do not look on the internet as a "crime scene"; merely as a medium, or vector.
I am amused by those who whine about the lack of "internet security" yet cheerfully toss their precious "personal information" out in their trash can :rolleyes:
Identity theft was around a long time before computers and the internet ;)
As for data collection by Google and the likes............. when will the moronic retards of this World realise that there is no such thing as a free meal . Are these outfits registered charities? how do you think they finance themselves.......... Paypal? :D
Right. They tell you that right up front. In my example, we're using it to protect from google building a detailed profile of you. Protection from the crap that AOHell just pulled. Not that I think that Google would release it to the public, but be forced to by the .gov. Hopefully, google can continue to resist. But, for how long?Quote:
Now Phish mentioned tor... from time to time I play with it... It has problems in itself that prevent total privacy..
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060119-6014.html
Nothing you write or contribute or search for is ever private...an old philosopher said a very long time ago...back when paper was a commodity that only the rich could afford...
'if you don't want it to come back to you, inscribe it on your mind instead of paper'
anything recorded in any fashion is liable to be read, studied, and used by others...whether you want them to or not.
Privacy is a concept...completely dependant upon the integrity of those who you share your information with...willingly and unwillingly.
And in this world we are all very aware...integrity is a rare commodity.
Eg ;)
I'd consider that a pretty hefty warning, but regardless of whether its a forum or a real life situation, its probably never good to smart off to high ranking members of an organization that you are trying to assimilate in to. As for what antipoints are, go to the FAQQuote:
Originally posted here by JerrySmith[MvP]
What the hell is an antipoint and why do i have -64?
Your AntiPoint Stats
Total AntiPoints That You've Received: -64
0% Positive 100% Negative
Total AntiPoints That You've Given Out: 0
50% Positive 50% Negative
- contact user about this assignment: AP Poster: HTRegz
Today 12:25 AM Well your a cocky son of a bitch.
So I can be banned for being cocky? WTF is this? LoL? Whatever.
True. Privacy is all relative. My income is relatively private, except to banks and the taxman, and even then there's still some discretionary privacy. But if one is subject to a civil or criminal investigation, you can kiss your privacy good-bye. All of it.Quote:
Sure there's some privacy but there's no more privacy than you have in your day to day life...
Of course, the same goes for the web. One can use avatars and proxies to obscure who you are, and they work to a degree (often quite well). There was a story earlier this year about a guy who was wardriving, downloading child porn, only to get popped by a traffic cop. He'd probably been getting away with it for some time, and likely would've never been caught otherwise. Another example is warez sites. They come and go like the wind, seldom getting prosecuted. Sure they get shut down, but just switch to another avatar, buy some bandwidth, and set up shop again.
The internet affords all kinds of privacy if you work at it. I wouldn't take it for granted though.
Note that Tor is based on "onion routing", originally a US Navy research project.Quote:
Your Exit Point from the Tor Network can Sniff all your traffic...
Welcome to AO, Jerry, home of the good ol' boys. :pQuote:
What the hell is an antipoint and why do i have -64?
I tell you one thing: I wouldn't expect ANY privacy using my legal name and credentials as a handle on any given forum.
I'm not concerned with being totally anonymous. I use my legal name as a handle cause I guess I'm just that cocky. If i really were THAT concerned I would make my names different for everything with different passwords. This isn't what I'm talking about though. An alias hardly makes you any more anonymous than using your real name. I post blogs and other info on the same accounts because I WANT PEOPLE TO READ IT. I agree with phish. How long can Google & other search engines keep our data safe from the government? Anyway off topic, where can I get somehelp installing linux on windows XP? Partitioning for XP is a pain in the ass. I've erased my HD twice with fdisk. LoL. xD
Should it be the government alone that we should fear regarding this issue? I think and believe not. Unless it is a matter of national security (a very broad definition, BTW), I have greater reason to fear websites who plant data miners and later spoof legitimate email addresses. I've seen a sudden rise in the number of junk emails I receive daily and the I have no reason to disbelieve that they have my number... THEY GOT ME TAGGED but they can tag me for all eternity and they will gain nothing of value from that effort.
Let them... gaddem!
Please start a new thread. I would suggest the operating systems forum.Quote:
Anyway off topic, where can I get somehelp installing linux on windows XP? Partitioning for XP is a pain in the ass. I've erased my HD twice with fdisk. LoL. xD
Some indication of what XP you are running and what distro of linux you are trying to install would also help, as well as your hardware specifications ;)
I boast some of the strongest (and longest) anti-government credentials of anyoneQuote:
How long can Google & other search engines keep our data safe from the government?
posting on this board, but there is such a thing as balance, and proportion.
I'd be worried about Google betraying all those Chinese dissidents
a lot more than giving my search results to the US Gov. Why? My gov is
a wuss. They back down when a federal judge says so. Google refused to
give them info, boasting about freedom and such, but they knew the gov
couldn't really hurt them, but China, they fear China and give them anything
they want. Real threats produce real results.
:cool:
Fact is google is slipping in the hard core usage department. They have caved with the gov a few times and most of the top hits are sponsors or someone filling in their own search engine crap. I have gotten to the point of just hit like page 5 or 10.
"Find hacking tools on ebay"
I mean come on?
Know your enemies. Collecting information on someone is not a crime. The goverment uses this information to find out who is against the United States. If you want to look up how to build bombs then I think the goverment should know. So if a bomb goes off in my city they have a list of people with the knowledge. You are all too into the movie senerio that the goverment is out to get you ie: (Track down) Kevin Mitnick story. Now im not saying the goverment isnt sneeky and doesnt do illegal things, like wiretapping or email tapping for no real reason. Im just saying they have our countries interests to protect. Sounds to me if you are against the goverment collecting data on you then you must have something to hide. Google collects data and so does all the other sites out there. Part of the agreement of you using there site is that they can collect this data and use it for what ever they use it for. Again if you are looking up kiddy porn and google collects that, expect a knock at your door (perv). Google is a great search engine and I have used it before google hit the big time. Google has gone more commercial in the past 5 years but it still brings up what I want to search for.
If you are that concearned about the information people are collecting on you then be aware as to what you give up. SSN, Address, EMail, Phone#, Names, Birthdates, and Account information are some of the main things you dont want to search for on the internet or give to sites that have no buisness knowing that information. Infact I wouldn't place any of that information on my computer let alone over the internet.
When I go to a site that asks for that information and I really want to access the infromation they offer, I use a fake name, address, email, and birthdate. Heck I even bull Sh*T on the amount of income I make. I call it garbage information. Next time they ask for a email give them [email protected], this is a real email site that can receive email. only thing is anyone can read the emails at this site so dont give your bank this email.
So basicly all im saying is security starts with you. If you dont want people knowing what you do and who you are, becareful of the information you give up.
i didnt see the date flashing so i figured i would add my 2 cents ,anything on the internet is insucure ,the only option is unplug it from the internet
Like the fact that you're a member of PETA or Greenpeace? Tell it to the people who were investigated for being communists back in the day.Quote:
Originally posted here by Ghost_25inf
Sounds to me if you are against the goverment collecting data on you then you must have something to hide.
Point being, who gets to determine whether I have something to hide? Me? The government? And what if the nothing I have to hide today becomes something tomorrow?